


Did You Miss Me?

by JonasDarkbloom



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, Hydra (Marvel), M/M, Missions Gone Wrong, SHIELD, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-07 13:52:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15909540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JonasDarkbloom/pseuds/JonasDarkbloom
Summary: Steve gets sent to the hospital and falls in a coma after a mission gone wrong. He wakes up weeks later, and is shocked to be visited by someone he hadn't seen in over 70 years.~“I was so scared you were going to die, that’s why I came back. I didn’t care how dangerous it was, I had to see you, make sure you were okay.”





	1. Please, Do Think About Me When I'm Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the Avengers, but before AoU.

Steve felt groggy, he felt as if his entire body just went to ten rounds with a tornado. It was the beeping that woke him up, and it got louder and louder as he fell out of his slumber. He opened his eyes, and he was in an entirely new room. He looked down at himself, realizing he was in a hospital bed with needles poking his right arm. He was in a hospital, he gathered, and he tried to think back to the last thing he remembered.

 

He was on a mission in Siberia with Natasha and Clint. Tony was too busy dealing with some sort of secret project with Bruce, and Thor was occupied with taking Loki back to Asgard to punish him for his crime of trying to take over the world. Hydra members raided into a S.H.I.E.L.D. Facility called _The Fridge_ , where the organization would collect, preserve, and protect dangerous weapons powerful enough to destroy half the world. A team broke in, stole some alien weapons, and quickly left before Coulson (who was alive, apparently), could arrive. Steve thought it was funny, how after 70 years, he was still fighting Nazis.

 

The team traced them into an underground facility in a remote location in Siberia, and the three of them, Steve, Clint, and Natasha, completely ravaged the place. Clint got the weapons into a helicarrier safely while Steve and Natasha was knocking out the criminals. It turned out, however, that there were bombs planted around the facility to destroy what was left of the place, and before Steve could get out, the building completely collapsed on him. He went through worse, though, but it was powerful enough to knock him out, leaving him in a coma.

 

Steve shook himself out of his thoughts when he realized he wasn’t alone in the room. He looked to his left, seeing a man standing in the corner dressed in a white doctor’s coat with black jeans. Was the doctor there the whole time? The man had long hair, almost able to reach his shoulders, and he was looking at down at some paperwork on the desk.

  
Seve groaned, alerting the man. The man turned around, and no. . .

 

Bucky?

 

Steve squinted his eyes. What? No, it couldn’t be. . . Bucky’s dead. He started shaking, unable to tell if he was in a dream or not. He stared at Bucky, afraid he was just imagining it, and that seconds later, his vision would shift and it would turn out to be someone else.

 

“Bucky?” Steve asked nervously.

 

Bucky smiled warmly at him and tilted his head, “Did you miss me?”

 

Hearing Bucky’s voice after all these years, Steve was hit with a wave of nostalgia. He always remembered how Bucky sounded, but it became more faint to him after 70 years.

 

“I. . . I thought you were dead,” Steve stated, the only thing plaguing his mind was _what the actual hell?_ Images started flashing before his eyes. Bucky falling, Steve drowning his sorrows in alcohol, and crashing that plane into the water. He remembered Bucky screaming as he fell from the train, like it was engraved into his memory forever. He could never forget it.

 

Bucky nodded, “Yeah, I heard that, too.” He shrugged his shoulders and chuckled, “But here I am.”

 

“What happened to you?” Steve asked, wondering why the hell he wasn’t waking up from this dream anytime soon.

 

Bucky’s smile faltered and he crossed his arms, “It’s complicated, Steve. _Really_ complicated.”

 

Steve frowned, “Why won’t you just tell me, it’s not like you’re real.”

 

Bucky chuckled and he shook his head, “It’s . . . you’re not ready, yet.”

 

“What do you mean?” Steve replied, confusion in his voice, “I’ve _been_ ready for the past 70 years.”

 

Bucky tilted his head and smiled, “Been that long, huh?”

 

“Please, Bucky, tell me what happened after you fell from that train.” Steve pleaded, “Tell me the truth.”

 

Bucky looked down at the floor and crossed his arms, “It won’t make a difference, darling.”

 

Steve gulped, “How could you say that?”

 

“Because I know,” Bucky said, fear and sadness in his voice, “You think the truth is just some big shiny disco ball of purity? Go ahead and try it, see where it gets you. Telling the truth to the wrong person at the wrong time was exactly how I ended up where I am now. Take it from me, you’re always better off with a really good lie.”

 

Steve then remembered him and Bucky’s high school years. Steve had to admit it, Bucky’s wasn’t always the nicest person in high school. He made a lot of enemies and hurt a lot of people. He had problems that no other teenager should have, and got into trouble that would’ve been considered a crime in today’s world. A girl came crying to him once in homeroom, saying how Bucky ruined her life.

 

“Never trust a pretty boy with an ugly secret,” she said after she was done sobbing. The phrase stuck to Steve, and after becoming friends with Bucky, he managed to shape him up and change his ways.

 

Bucky lifted up his right arm and checked his watch. “Got to go,” he said with a sigh.

“Where?” Steve asked.

 

Bucky looked at him with a sad smile, “I was so scared you were going to die, that’s why I came back. I didn’t care how dangerous it was, I _had_ to see you, make sure you were okay.”

 

Bucky started walking towards the door, opening it, but he turned around before he could go.

 

“You know, I really should do something about Hydra. Those bitches are genuinely getting on my nerves.”

 

And with that, Bucky gave him one last smile before leaving. He closed the door, but not entirely, leaving about a space between the door and door frame.

 

Steve stared at the door, still shocked from seeing his best friend come back from the dead. He didn’t even realize that he started falling asleep, deep into his thoughts.

 

Steve jolted awake, waking up from his sleep. The last thing he remembered was talking to Bucky, but he was sure as hell that was only a dream. He looked around the room, seeing it empty. He sighed and his heart fell. Did he really expect Bucky to be there, alive and well for him? Tears started appearing on the brims of his eyes. He kept looking around the room, as if Bucky had gone invisible or something. He shook himself out of his thoughts and looked at the door. The door was exactly how he remembered it, not completely closed, but still open, as if someone had been in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspired by pretty little liars, as all of my works are :)
> 
> Kudos are appreciated, and comment if you think I should continue this story or not !


	2. A Long Painful Road

Everything was absolutely terrible. This isn’t how it was supposed to turn out. The team, hiding their faces from the public, had to evacuate New York as there was a witch hunt for them. After Hulk and Tony’s catastrophic battle, the team received a worldwide backlash, forcing them to hide at Clint’s safehouse with his wife and two adorable kids.

 

It  was currently 1 am, and Steve could not sleep at all. Flipping and turning in the bed every second, which resulted in Tony shouting at him to keep quiet, Steve decided it was better to sleep downstairs on the couch instead of the small bedroom. It was much cooler there, and he was alone, which let him release the tension he didn’t know he was carrying. He actually managed to fall asleep, deep into his thoughts. After his encounter with Bucky in the hospital, Steve was reluctant in sleeping again, afraid he’d dream about Bucky again. The thing was, it wasn’t like his other dreams about Bucky. Them reuniting, them having dinner together, them living together in their own house and living their best lives. The hospital incident felt _so_ real to Steve. He regretted he didn’t jump out of the bed and stop Bucky from walking away. He was just shocked from seeing his best friend that he thought he was just imagining it.

 

He was scolding himself in his dreams when he started waking up, the ruffling noises in the living room becoming louder and louder. He opened his eyes, seeing a man in a hat and leather jacket going through Tony’s duffel bag.

 

Bucky turned around, checking on Steve, and Steve gasped. Seeing Bucky’s face again, Steve jumped up on the couch, jaw dropping to the floor while the air in his breath was knocked out.

 

“Don’t.” Bucky quickly said, afraid Steve would suddenly yell or shout. “Don’t scream, please.”

 

Steve looked at him in confusion, furrowing his brow.

 

“I needed something from Tony’s bag,” Bucky admitted.

 

“What?” Steve hastily said, still shocked.

 

“You’re mad at me, aren’t you? Leaving you at the hospital so quickly?” Bucky said, resting his right arm on the hand of the couch.

 

“Please understand, Steve, it was too dangerous for me to stay another minute longer there.” Bucky stated, looking straight into Steve’s blue eyes.

 

“Bucky, _please_ ,” Steve said, “Tell me what happened to you.”

 

Bucky didn’t respond, he just studied Steve quietly. Bucky leaned closer, lifting his hand up and parting a strand of Steve’s hair away from his face.

 

Bucky smiled, “I missed you, Stevie. I missed that fierce look in your eye when you _had_ to win at something. _Had_ to win the game. That’s how I know you’ll defeat Ultron.”

 

“Bucky, you _fell_ from the train. 70 years ago. There’s no way you’re alive.” Steve cried, “I. . . I just have to accept that you’re dead. Maybe then I’ll stop imagining you. You’re dead, Buck.”

 

Bucky tilted his head and smiled, a sense of empathy for the other man, “Oh, honey...”

 

Bucky leaned in closer and whispered, “Do I look dead to you?”

 

Steve stared at him in silence, a million things flying around in his head. Bucky took his arm off the couch and turned around to ruffle through Tony’s bag.

 

“Ooh, painkillers,” Bucky said, pulling out a orange bottle and twisting the cap open, “mind if I take some for the road?”

 

He poured a handful in his hand, and took out a ziplock from his pocket, and put the pills inside.

 

“What _road_ , Buck?” Steve said, annoyed by the cryptic messages Bucky spoke in, “I’m begging you, Bucky, tell me what happened to you.”

 

“That’s for you to figure out,” Bucky stated, putting the pills in his pocket.

 

“This isn’t Yahtzee, sweetie,” he shook his head, “this is some seriously messed up stuff.”

 

Steve stared back at him in silence, not knowing what to say.

 

“But here’s the good news, you’re getting warmer,” Bucky said in a hushed tone.

 

The opening of a door upstairs interrupted their silence, scaring the both of them. Steve quickly laid back on the couch and put his blanket over him, pretending to be asleep. He didn’t want for his team mates to come down and ask why he was still awake, and then he would have to lie, which Steve hated.

 

“Steve? Oh my god,” Clint says, waking Steve up.

 

He looked up from the couch, realizing he fell asleep. The sun was pouring in from the windows, and Steve shivered as he noticed the temperature was colder than usual. He watched Clint jog to one of the kitchen doors, closing it.

 

“Was this open the whole night?” Clint asks, locking it.

 

Just then, Tony walked down the stairs. His hair was messy, the bags under his eyes were darker than usual, and he was still in his pajamas.

 

“Did _not_ sleep at all last night,” Tony groaned.

 

“Hey, why’d you leave the room?” He asked Steve, walking over to sit next to him on the couch.

 

“I, uh, I needed a fresh of breath air. The room was a little cramped.”

 

Tony  noticed the small orange bottle on the coffee table and reached for it.

 

“Did you take some of my painkillers?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you think Bucky's really alive, or was Steve imagining it as a form of mourning?
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated !


End file.
